Pedestrian Deaths and Injuries High

In many ways, San Francisco is a paradise for travel by foot. The weather is superb, the city’s layout lends itself to ease of pedestrian navigation and there are plenty of sweeping views to enjoy.Yet, San Francisco is also a place of danger for pedestrians. San Francisco consistently has relatively high pedestrian death tolls compared to similarly sized cities, and in addition to the fatalities, hundreds suffer a nonfatal injury in a San Francisco pedestrian accident every year.Commensurate with its goal of becoming “the most walkable city in North America,” San Francisco will go into 2014 and beyond with a new data-driven program aimed at taking down the pedestrian death and injury toll.

With the end of 2013 just days away, San Francisco has seen 17 pedestrian deaths involving vehicles so far this year, an increase from last year’s total. Two of the deaths just recently occurred, one on December 19 and the other on December 20. The Friday morning accident involved a man who was crushed underneath a Recology sanitation truck as it backed up – this was the second pedestrian death involving a Recology truck in less than a month, and the third cyclist or pedestrian killed in an encounter with a Recology vehicle since May.

A total tally for pedestrian injuries in 2013 has not yet been released, but last year saw 948 pedestrians injured in pedestrian-vehicle collisions. This was the highest number of pedestrian injuries in the city since 2000.

Under the city’s Pedestrian Strategy, released earlier in 2013, San Francisco officials announced an ambitious goal of reducing severe and fatal pedestrian injuries by 15 percent, 25 percent, and 50 percent, by 2014, 2016, and 2021, respectively. In mid December, the city took an important step toward this goal by launching the WalkFirst program.

WalkFirst is meant to tackle pedestrian safety by utilizing technology and data. The WalkFirst website includes a tool showing where more pedestrian accidents are concentrated, lists factors that contribute to pedestrian accidents, offers educational resources on street design tools that can be used to reduce pedestrian injuries and allows members of the public to make direct suggestions as to how pedestrian safety funds should be utilized.

Contact a San Francisco pedestrian accident attorney if you have been injured

While the WalkFirst program is a step in the right direction, given the high numbers of pedestrian fatalities and injuries recently, San Francisco still has a long ways to go. If you have been injured as a pedestrian, or if a family member has been killed, safety reforms have come too late to help you. But, you could benefit from legal action.

A lawsuit can help you recover monetary damages to cover things like medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. While the proceeds from a lawsuit cannot undo the harm that you suffered, they can help you take care of a number of resulting expenses and give you a springboard to get on with your life. If you have been impacted by a pedestrian accident, get in touch with a San Francisco pedestrian accident attorney today to ensure you get the full monetary recovery to which you are legally entitled.